Newsline - November 20, 1998

Russian Public Television's
(ORT) noon news program lasted only three minutes on 20 November
because, according to the newscaster, essential equipment
belonging to the television company has been confiscated owing to
unpaid loans, ITAR-TASS reported. However, an official from the
Moscow bailiff's office told the Russian agency that ORT
executives are "throwing mud" and that their activities have been
suspended in order "to reduce tension" and "allow the parties to
reach an agreement on debt repayment." ORT spokesman Grigori
Simanovich told Interfax on 19 November that "an absurd situation
has emerged when government institutions sue a television company
that is more than 50 percent owned by the government." Earlier,
Simanovich suggested that the situation was not only absurd but
politically motivated by media opponents on the political Left
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 November 1998). JAC

...AS KORZHAKOV IMPLICATED IN SCANDAL OVER SHARES

The State Duma
plans to investigate allegations that the percentage of
government ownership in ORT exceeds 51 percent. Duma Chairman
Gennadii Seleznev said that the lower house will conduct a two-
week investigation into claims by Duma Committee Chairman Viktor
Ilyukhin (Communist) that 26 percent of shares in ORT were signed
over to President Boris Yeltsin in 1994 as a bribe, Interfax
reported on 20 November. Speaking on ORT's "Vremya" program,
financial magnate Boris Berezovskii confirmed that transfer but
said it took place at the behest of Yeltsin's former bodyguard
Aleksandr Korzhakov, who is now a Duma deputy. Oleg Sysuev,
deputy chief of the presidential staff, agreed that the entire
transaction was "Korzhakov's idea" and that the president does
not know about his "vast wealth." JAC

DEBT NEGOTIATORS ACHIEVE BREAKTHROUGH

Russian government
officials and a delegation of international banks led by Deutsche
Bank issued a joint statement on 19 November saying they have
reached a preliminary agreement on restructuring the government's
short-term Treasury bill debt, Bloomberg reported. The statement
includes a pledge by Russia to provide some dollars in cash in
exchange for the debt. One more round of talks will be needed to
work out the final terms, ITAR-TASS reported on 20 November. JAC

PRIMAKOV SLAMS REFORMERS...

In his first in-depth interview,
Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov lambasted "economic reformers"
and criticized the West for continuing to rely on them for
information. He told "Izvestiya" on 20 November, that the West,
specifically the U.S., criticized his cabinet's economic plan
based on disinformation spread by former members of more liberal
governments. He noted that "there is great support for [those
former cabinet ministers] in some Western political circles and
media," but "these are the gentlemen who duped the West" and paid
no attention to "the social aspects of the economy." Primakov
disputed the notion that a middle class has formed in Russia:
"People waving their arms around on the stock exchange floor are
not the middle class. Without the fundamental development of the
economy, a genuine middle class--instead of just moneychangers--
cannot emerge." He characterized the 17 August moratorium on
foreign debt payments as more of a panicked reaction than an
appropriate policy. JAC

...NIXES ANY PLANS TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

Primakov also suggested
that the Western policy-makers are failing to grasp Russian
reality because they are "bound by stereotypes, notably in
relation to Maslyukov," who is a "professional of the highest
order." Echoing earlier statements, he recalled that the U.S.
came out the Great Depression by increasing the role of the state
and that state regulation is needed to protect the population
against "gangsterism" and "corruption." Primakov dismissed the
idea that he will run for the Presidency, noting that "lunacy has
its limits and I reached mine by agreeing to be prime minister."
He added that "age is not on my side." The same day, Duma
Chairman Gennadii Seleznev told ITAR-TASS that the number of the
Primakov government's enemies is growing and that the government
may be ousted. JAC

GOVERNMENT, YABLOKO BLAST BACK AT KALMYKIA...

Sysuev, deputy
chief of the presidential administration, suggested on 19
November that Kalmykia's threat to secede was in fact "a smoke
screen for recent financial and economic dealings by the
republic's leaders." He noted that the Security Council will
discuss a new bill to address the problem of elected regional
leaders who overstep their powers. The Duma Council instructed
two of its committees to draft its own legislation on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Yabloko party urged President Yeltsin to declare a
state of emergency in the republic, noting that the local
government has violated Russian law in a number of ways. A letter
signed by Yabloko leader Grigorii Yavlinskii alleges that an
offshore zone set up by the local government is a financial
"black hole" in which funds from Moscow disappear. JAC

...WHILE PRESS, REGIONS BLAME MOSCOW

"Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 19
November criticized the federal government for giving favored
regional leaders money while withholding funds from those out of
favor, noting that it is a "dangerous game" that Moscow cannot
win. It added that "the federal center is weak and the president
of Kalmykia will always be able to play at separatism, thus
strengthening his own position within the republic." The same day
Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev predicted that the Finance
Ministry's inadequate attention to the regions could trigger
unilateral cancellation of agreements on the division of powers
between the regions and the federal government. JAC

MASLYUKOV WARNS RUSSIA WILL BECOME OIL IMPORTER

Predicting that
oil production could slump to 220 million tons by 2000, First
Deputy Prime Minister Maslyukov said Russia may halt oil exports
and become an oil importer, Interfax reported on 20 November.
Meanwhile, Occidental Petroleum became the latest Western oil
company to abandon a Russian project, ITAR-TASS reported on 18
November. Amoco and Elf Aquitaine earlier announced plans to exit
from some projects. Analysts suggest that Russia cannot compete
with other energy-producing countries, which offer lower
production costs, a more modern infrastructure, and investor-
friendly economic policies. JAC

RELIEF EFFORT FROZEN

Ice in the Arctic Ocean stopped a Russian
oil tanker equipped with an atomic-powered ice breaker from
continuing on its journey to Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, ITAR-TASS
reported on 19 November. The tanker was carrying 12,000 tons of
fuel, which would have allowed 4,000 residents there to remain
through the winter, AFP reported the previous day. Meanwhile, a
relief effort in Kamchatka Oblast has gone more smoothly. Three
atomic submarines are providing the town of Vilyuchinsk with
electricity, "Torgovaya gazeta" reported on 12 November. JAC

NUCLEAR WORKERS IN URALS STAGE ONE-DAY STRIKE

Some 3,000 workers
at the closed city of Snezhinsk in Chelyabinsk Oblast protested a
three-month backlog of unpaid wages by staging a one-day strike
on 19 November, ITAR-TASS reported. JAC

DERZHAVA ELECTS NEW LEADER

The Derzhava Social Patriotic
Movement, founded by General Aleksandr Rutskoi in 1994, elected a
new chairman on 19 November, Interfax reported. Delegates at the
movement's sixth extraordinary congress selected Konstantin
Zatulin, an adviser to Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov and director of
the Institute for the Countries of the CIS. Zatulin told Interfax
he is a staunch Luzhkov supporter, like many of Derzhava's
members. JAC

ROSNEFT BECOMING WHOLE AGAIN?

A Moscow court on 19 November ruled
the Feniks company's purchase of shares in Purneftegaz, Rosneft's
main production unit, invalid. Feniks was ordered to return its
portion of shares, which it obtained at a sale price, which many
analysts and government officials considered scandalously below
market (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 November 1998). A legal case on
the last 25 percent of shares in Purneftegaz held outside
Rosneft, which was sold under the same terms in September, is
still pending. JAC

RUSSIA LAUNCHES FIRST PART OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

A
Russian Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome on
20 November to put the first part of the international space
station into orbit, ITAR-TASS reported. Russian and U.S.
officials called the launch "flawless" and are now waiting for
the 5 December docking with the second segment of the station,
which will be carried aboard the U.S. shuttle "Endeavor."
Meanwhile, Yurii Semenov, the president of Russia's "Energiya"
corporation, which owns the space station "Mir," said the station
will remain in space until the year 2001. Previous plans called
for closing down "Mir" in mid-1999. BP

SANTA TAKE HEED

The legislature of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous
Okrug has passed a law on reindeer breeding, ITAR-TASS reported.
Sergei Karyuchi, deputy chairman of the legislature, described
the law as landmark legislation since previously "reindeers
lacked legislative protection." Some peoples in the area, such as
the northern Evenks, were traditionally reindeer breeders but
their way of life was seriously disrupted under communism. JAC

NEW GEORGIAN FINANCE MINISTER NAMED

The parliament on 19
November voted by 142 to three with no abstentions to endorse
President Eduard Shevardnadze's candidate for minister of
finance, Caucasus Press and Reuters reported. The new minister is
37-year-old David Onoprishvili, who since 1995 has served as
chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Economic Policy and
Reforms. Outlining a program of austerity measures, Onoprishvili
told deputies he is "not very happy" about having to take up the
daunting job. He ruled out a money emission to cover the budget
shortfall, saying such a move would lead to hyperinflation. A
graduate of Columbia University, Onoprishvili worked as a
consultant to the World Bank in 1994-1995. He replaces Mikhail
Chkuaseli, who resigned a week ago (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16
November 1998). LF

GEORGIAN DISPLACED PERSONS PESSIMISTIC OVER ABKHAZ TALKS

Murman
Zakaria, one of the leaders of the Coordinating Council of
Political Parties of Abkhazia and Samachablo, which represents
Georgians forced to flee their homes in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, has expressed doubts that the upcoming meeting between
President Shevardnadze and Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzinba will
alleviate the plight of those displaced persons, Caucasus Press
reported on 19 November. Zakaria said that the Abkhaz have no
interest in reaching a settlement and that Moscow is encouraging
them to prolong the negotiating process indefinitely. He
predicted that the agreement to be signed by Shevardnadze and
Ardzinba, details of which have not been revealed, will recognize
Abkhazia's independence. Georgian and Abkhaz officials have said
the agreement will outline measures for the repatriation of
Georgian displaced persons to Abkhazia. Meanwhile, another two
Abkhaz policemen were killed on 19 November when their car hit a
land mine in Gali Raion, Caucasus Press reported. LF

GEORGIAN KURDS ON HUNGER STRIKE...

Up to 50 Georgian Kurds have
begun a hunger strike at the Kurdish cultural center in Tbilisi,
Interfax and Caucasus Press reported on 19 November. The center's
chairman, Ordukhan Kashaki, told Caucasus Press that the strikers
are protesting the 12 November arrest in Rome of Kurdistan
Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan and the tendency of the
international media to characterize the entire Kurdish nation as
separatists and terrorists. LF

The Party of Young Turkic Nationalists requested
permission on 19 November from Baku Mayor Rafael Allakhverdiev to
picket the Italian Embassy on 24 November, Turan reported. The
party intends to protest the Italian authorities' reluctance to
extradite Ocalan to Turkey. LF

KARABAKH PRESIDENT DENIES DISAGREEMENT OVER PEACE PROPOSAL...

Addressing the government of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic on 19 November, Arkadii Ghukasian denied rumors that
some members of the enclave's leadership are unhappy with the new
peace proposals advanced by the OSCE Minsk Group earlier this
month, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Ghukasian said the peace
plan contains encouraging new provisions, including elements of
an "unconventional status" for Karabakh. Murad Petrosian, the
hard-line chairman of the Karabakh parliamentary Defense and
Security Committee, has reportedly criticized the proposals.
Petrosian has repeatedly expressed skepticism that the OSCE is
capable of mediating a political settlement to the conflict. LF

...WHILE AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION WANTS DETAILS

The opposition
Movement for Democratic Elections and Electoral Reform (SIDSUH)
issued a statement on 19 November expressing "concern" that the
Azerbaijani authorities have not yet made public the details of
the latest OSCE peace plan, Turan reported. The statement claims
that the proposal reportedly contained in that plan--namely, that
the Azerbaijan Republic and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic form "a
common state"--threatens the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
To accept such a proposal is "betrayal of the [Azerbaijani]
people and the state," the statement concludes. LF

AZERBAIJANI PAPER FINED IN SECOND LIBEL SUIT

A Baku district
court imposed a 20 million manat ($5,000) fine on the independent
newspaper "Yeni Musavat" on 19 November for having implicated a
senior Azerbaijani Interior Ministry official in the February
1997 murder of Academician Zia Buniatov, Turan reported. Vidadi
Mahmudov, defense lawyer for "Yeni Musavat," complained that the
verdict was unfair as the newspaper had printed a statement by
the official in question denying any part in the killing. Rauf
Arifoglu, the editor of "Yeni Musavat," embarked on a hunger
strike a week ago to protest an earlier fine for insulting a
member of the presidential apparatus. A second independent
newspaper, "Azadlyg," is facing a libel suit brought by President
Heidar Aliev's brother Djalal, whom it claimed has bought
expensive property in Britain. Arifoglu and "Azadlyg" editor
Gunduz Tairli met on 19 November with Western diplomats in Baku
who expressed their regret at the court cases. LF

BEREZOVSKII VISITS YEREVAN, BAKU

CIS Executive Secretary Boris
Berezovskii outlined his proposals for reforming and giving a new
lease of life to the commonwealth during talks in Yerevan on 19
November with Armenian President Robert Kocharian, RFE/RL's
Yerevan bureau reported. Kocharian expressed his approval of
those proposals, which include acting on the 1994 proposals to
create free trade zones within the CIS, terming them "quite a
workable and serious package." Berezovskii, for his part, gave a
positive assessment of the latest OSCE peace proposals for
Karabakh, saying they are "a step forward," according to
Interfax. On arrival in Baku later the same day, Berezovskii met
with President Aliev, who made it clear that his country will
intensify its cooperation within various CIS bodies only when
measures have been implemented to enable the CIS to function more
effectively, according to Interfax. LF

TAJIK OPPOSITION PARTY DENOUNCES LEADER

The National Unity Party
sent a letter to President Imomali Rakhmonov and the parliament
on 19 November condemning the rebellion in northern Tajikistan
earlier this month and demanding those who took part in it be
severely punished, ITAR-TASS reported. The letter also criticized
party leader Abdumalik Abdullojonov for his role in the
rebellion, saying he has not been in contact with the party for
three years and was acting on his own. It also called on
residents of northern Tajikistan to hand over voluntarily any
weapons they may have been given by "mutineers" during the
rebellion. The letter came one day after Russia's "Nezavisimaya
gazeta" reported that the Tajik Justice Ministry has asked the
Supreme Court to ban the activities of the National Unity Party.
BP

NAZARBAYEV SEES 'NOTHING BUT VICTORY' IN UPCOMING ELECTIONS

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he is counting on
"nothing but victory" in the January presidential elections,
Interfax reported on 19 November. Nazarbayev spoke of the success
his country has enjoyed since it became an independent state in
1991. He said that during that period, inflation has dropped from
2,900 percent to 2.3 percent and that 75 percent of industrial
companies and 90 percent of farms have been privatized, And he
added that there are 7,700 new farms and 122,000 new businesses
employing some 1.2 million people. Nazarbayev promised the
presidential elections will be free and fair. BP

KUCHMA CALLS FOR MONEY EMISSION...

Ukrainian President Leonid
Kuchma, addressing the parliament on 19 November, presented an
economic stabilization program for 1999, Ukrainian and Western
media reported. Kuchma called on lawmakers to authorize printing
more money for the cash-strapped economy. "We need to inject more
payment tools into the economy where money has stopped serving
its primary goal," he commented. Kuchma criticized the National
Bank for maintaining the "artificial stability" of the hryvnya.
He said the bank profited through transactions with bonds instead
of providing loans to enterprises. Kuchma urged the Supreme
Council to adopt a special bill on the National Bank and its
supervisory council in order to gain more control over bank
policies. JM

...OPTS FOR FREE-FLOATING HRYVNYA...

Kuchma said the hryvnya
should no longer be kept within the government-set trading band
but should be allowed to float freely. He said that while the
Ukrainian hryvnya was "artificially supported" over the past two
years, Ukraine's trade partners devalued their currencies, which
hurt Ukrainian exporters. "Today it is necessary to discontinue
the excessive regulation of foreign currency purchases by
Ukrainian export enterprises, liberalize the currency market, and
discontinue its mechanical regulation," he argued. JM

...APPEALS TO PARLIAMENT NOT TO OUST GOVERNMENT

Kuchma also said
he still backs the government and the National Bank leadership.
"I ask the parliament not to create unnecessary tension around
the issue of the government's possible dismissal. Such a step
would be not only untimely and senseless, but also dangerous for
the state," he commented, adding that a crisis in the National
Bank would be even more dangerous than in the government. Kuchma
urged the parliament to adopt a 1999 budget with a deficit of 0.6
percent of GDP and to consider a draft bill on the privatization
of Ukrtelecom, Ukraine's telecommunications giant. JM

LUKASHENKA SAYS 'NO CATASTROPHE' OVER FOOD PROVISION...

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on 19 November
attended a meeting of the "nationwide headquarters," an emergency
task force set up last week to deal with the shortages of food
and consumer goods (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 November 1998),
Belarusian Television reported. Lukashenka commented, "I have the
impression that there is no catastrophe in Belarus, no collapse
or crisis in provisions for the population." He argued that
prices of foodstuffs in Belarus are "distorted," being 200-300
percent lower than in Russia or Ukraine, and that food is being
smuggled to those countries. And he admitted that the
administrative measures to control prices have proved inefficient
and the government has been forced to increase prices "to save
the production [sector]." JM

...BLASTS PREMIER FOR DOUBLING VODKA PRICE...

Lukashenka has
sharply criticized Prime Minister Syarhey Linh for allowing
prices of Belarusian vodka to double this week. "You simply hate
your people. If you had respected them, you would not have done
this. Why are you discrediting your country and yourself?" he
asked Linh in the presence of television cameras. The president
added that the price of vodka should have been increased "calmly,
in three or four goes." He ordered the prime minister to
compensate for the price hike by increasing monthly wages by the
amount it costs to buy several bottles of vodka. A half-liter
bottle of Belaya Rus vodka now costs 185,300 Belarusian rubles
($2.5 according to the official exchange rate). JM

...THREATENS DISMISSALS OVER COMMODITY SHORTAGES

Lukashenka also
ordered the government "to introduce order in the trade sector.
"You have to put pressure on all local administration: governors
and city and raion executive committee heads. They should grow
pale and blush over how their trade is being conducted," the
president said. He also warned the government not to use
Belarus's emergency food reserves "sooner than January-February
and without my knowledge." Lukashenka threatened "the most severe
consequences" for agricultural sector officials and dismissals in
the trade sector unless the situation in the food market is
stabilized within the next two weeks. JM

BRZEZINSKI URGES RUSSIA TO ACKNOWLEDGE BALTIC OCCUPATION
UNLAWFUL

Addressing a conference in Stockholm on security and
cooperation in the Baltic region, U.S. political scientist and
former presidential security adviser Zbygniew Brzezinski urged
Russia to formally repudiate its stand that the 1940 occupation
of the Baltic States was lawful, BNS reported on 19 November.
Pointing to a Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry document earlier
this year claiming that the Baltic States had joined the Soviet
Union legally and on a voluntary basis, Brzezinski argued that
such an attitude "arouses a feeling of insecurity" among the
three countries. He also repeated the idea, expressed earlier
this week during his visit to Vilnius, of a charter between NATO
and the Baltic States to improve security and confidence in the
region. JC

ESTONIAN RULING PARTY TO DECIDE NEXT WEEK ON CABINET RESHUFFLE

Estonian Prime Minister Mart Siimann's ruling Coalition Party has
postponed taking a decision on a possible cabinet reshuffle until
25 November, Reuters reported on 19 November, quoting a party
spokesman. At a news conference the previous day, Siimann had
expressed annoyance with one of his party's junior coalition
partners, the Country People's Party, which recently voted,
together with the opposition, against electoral alliances (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 18 November 1998). Siimann neither denied nor
confirmed rumors he is considering replacing Environment Minister
Villu Reiljan and Agriculture Minister Andres Varik, both members
of the Country People's Party, according to BNS. JC

MERI PROMULGATES LAW BANNING ELECTORAL ALLIANCES

Estonian
President Lennart Meri on 19 November promulgated the law banning
electoral alliances, which was passed by the parliament earlier
this week, ETA reported. In a statement, Meri said he hopes that
Estonian parties will start merging so that the Estonian
political landscape can be "brought into a more orderly situation
before the [March 1999] elections. Otherwise, we could be in a
situation after the elections where the disputes [between]
smaller and medium-sized parties will not be much different from
the disputes in the [electoral alliances] era." He also urged
parties to name their cooperation partners in a new cabinet as
soon as possible, commenting that the voter does "not want to buy
a pig in a sack." JC

LATVIAN PREMIER-DESIGNATE OPTS FOR MINORITY GOVERNMENT

Vilis
Kristopans told journalists on 19 November that he intends to
form a minority government, Reuters and BNS reported. He said he
will form a three-party coalition, composed of his Latvia's Way,
the Fatherland and Freedom party, and the New Party, and will
offer one or two portfolios to groups outside the coalition to
bolster support both in society and the parliament. He also said
he had offered the centrist People's Party, which won the
elections, the post of agriculture minister but did not invite it
to formally join the coalition, an offer the People's Party
rejected. "Diena" reported on 20 November that the non-coalition
ministers could come from either the leftist Social Democrats or
the Greens. Kristopans has said he will name his government
lineup next week. The three-party coalition will have 46 seats in
the 100-strong parliament. JC

LITHUANIANS WANT TO KEEP DEATH PENALTY

According to a poll
conducted by the opinion and market research center Vilmorus
earlier this month, 78 percent of Lithuanians do not approve of
banning capital punishment, BNS reported on 19 November. Sixteen
percent of respondents said they are in favor of such a ban,
while 6 percent said they have no opinion on the subject. At the
beginning of this week, the Constitutional Court began
considering whether capital punishment contravenes the basic law
(see "RFE/RL Newsline, 18 November 1998). JC

POLAND SIGNS COOPERATION ACCORDS WITH KYRGYZSTAN

Polish
President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his Kyrgyz counterpart,
Askar Akayev, met in Warsaw on 19 November and signed a
declaration on developing friendly relations and cooperation, PAP
reported. Akayev is the first president from the former Soviet
Central Asian republics to visit Poland. He said in Warsaw that
Kyrgyzstan wants to make use of Poland's exemplary experience in
economic and political transformation in his country's next stage
of reform. The total volume of trade between Poland and
Kyrgyzstan was $5.5 million last year. "This is much too small,"
Kwasniewski commented. Akayev pledged to introduce privileges for
Polish investors in Kyrgyzstan. JM

SLOVAK PREMIER ON GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES

Speaking to the
parliament on 20 November, Mikulas Dzurinda said his cabinet is
determined to make human and minority rights a top priority in
its program and to work harder for membership in NATO and the EU.
Earlier on 20 November, the government approved its program,
which provides, among other things, for the restructuring and the
privatization of banks with the help of foreign investors,
Reuters reported. MS

SLOVAKIA, GREAT BRITAIN SIGN MILITARY ACCORD

British Armed
Forces Minister Douglas Henderson on 20 November signed with his
Slovak counterpart, Pavol Kanis, a memorandum of understanding
providing for cooperation between the two countries' armed
forces, including the sharing of know-how and experience in
strategic planning. Henderson said Britain is looking forward to
the "near future when Slovakia will be a full member of NATO" and
that it is "well placed to be at the head of any expansion" of
the organization, AP reported. But according to Reuters,
Henderson said that the April 1999 Washington summit will "want
to assess the consequences" of the new members' accession to NATO
before considering the entry of others. MS

HUNGARIAN BORDER GUARDS TURN BACK ROMANIAN SOLDIERS

Hungarian
border guards on 17 November turned back a group of Romanian
soldiers heading for a NATO Partnership for Peace training
exercise in Slovenia because they lacked transit permits, Reuters
reported two days later, quoting a border guards spokesman. The
Hungarians said the soldiers could cross as tourists without
weapons. RFE/RL's Romanian service reported that the unit did
cross without arms and that the Romanian side has launched an
investigation into the incident. The Hungarian Constitution
stipulates that in the absence of parliamentary approval or a
valid international treaty, foreign military troops cannot cross
Hungarian territory or be deployed or stationed in the country.
Romanian General Staff chief Constantin Degeratu is scheduled to
hold a press conference explaining "the circumstances of
Romania's non-participation" in the exercise, Romanian state
radio announced on 20 November. MS

EU, U.S. ENVOYS WANT SWIFT PROGRESS ON KOSOVA ACCORD

The U.S.
envoy to Kosova, Christopher Hill, and his EU counterpart,
Wolfgang Petritsch, called for swift progress on talks between
Belgrade and the ethnic Albanian leadership on an accord granting
Kosova autonomy, AFP reported on 19 November. Petritsch and Hill
made their comments after meeting in Vienna. In New York, the UN
Security Council called for the "early deployment" of the
international "verifiers," who are to monitor the withdrawal of
Serbian forces from Kosova. In a statement, acting U.S.
ambassador to the UN Peter Burleigh said the council is concerned
about "persisting tensions" in many areas in Kosova. PB

MONTENEGRO CONDEMNS FINE, CONFISCATION OF WEEKLY

Montenegrin
Information Minister Bozidar Jaredic said on 19 November that the
seizure by Serbian authorities of copies of the weekly "Monitor"
was a "blatant violation of relations between the two republics,"
the independent Belgrade-based news agency BETA reported. Jaredic
said that this action "will contribute to the further
deterioration of relations between the two federal units."
"Monitor" is published in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica. In
addition, a Serbian court fined the weekly the maximum 1.2
million dinars (about $120,000) for publishing a picture of a
clenched fist, the symbol of a Belgrade University student group
that has called for the overthrow of Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic. Drasko Djuranovic, chief editor of "Monitor," said he
had not been notified about the decision but added that "in this
country of miracles, everything is possible." PB

MACEDONIA WANTS DISPUTE OVER NATO FORCE SETTLED

Ljubco
Georgievski, the expected prime minister-designate, said on 19
November that he wants the West to help soothe tensions caused by
the planned deployment of a NATO rapid reaction force in
Macedonia, Reuters reported. Georgievski said "we would be happy
if this question were diplomatically coordinated with
[Yugoslavia] so we can openly make the final decision." He added
that "it would not be good if Yugoslavia took this as a hostile
act as it has the last few days." Jacques Huntzinger, the French
ambassador to Macedonia, said he had discussed the issue with
both Georgievski and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, but
he would not comment further. The rapid reaction force is to be
deployed in Kosova to rescue some of the 2,000 unarmed
"verifiers" in the Serbian province if they become endangered.
U.S. General Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme allied commander in
Europe, will visit Macedonia on 23 November to discuss the force.
PB

MACEDONIAN PARLIAMENT CONVENES

The newly elected Macedonian
parliament convened for the first time on 19 November, AP
reported. The assembly, in which a center-right coalition has a
majority, elected law professor Slavo Klimovski as speaker. PB

BOSNIAN SERBS BACK DOWN ON DINAR

The Yugoslav federal
authorities announced in Belgrade on 19 November that Republika
Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told Yugoslav Deputy Prime
Minister Jovan Zebic that Banja Luka will use the same exchange
rate between the Yugoslav dinar and the German mark as is used by
the Belgrade authorities, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported.
The Yugoslav government had announced on 12 November that it
would not allow the further transfer of dinars to the Republika
Srpska until the Bosnian Serb government lowered its official
exchange rate from 7.5 dinars to the German mark to 6 dinars,
which is the official rate in Yugoslavia. The Bosnian Serb
government shortly before had adopted the rate of 7.5 to 1, which
is approximately the black market value. PM

U.S. SAYS SERBS USED TEAR GAS, NOT CHEMICALS IN BOSNIA

The U.S.
State Department said on 19 November that it believes Serbs used
tear gas against Muslims during the Bosnian war. But it added
that it has no evidence that chemical weapons were used, as Human
Rights Watch charged the same day. State Department spokesman
James Rubin said Washington will study the Human Rights Watch
report, which called on the international community to
investigate whether Serb forces used the BZ chemical nerve agent
during the siege of Srebrenica. Some 35 survivors of that attack
said Serb mortars released a low-hanging colored cloud that
caused people to have hallucinations. The human rights
organization said that it failed to find any physical evidence of
a chemical attack. Its findings were turned over to the war
crimes tribunal at The Hague. PB

WESTERN OFFICIAL EXPECTS SIGNING OF BOSNIAN-CROATIAN DEAL

Jacques Klein, the deputy high representative in Bosnia, said on
19 November that he is optimistic that a deal on special
relations between Croatia and the Muslim-Croatian half of Bosnia
will be signed in Zagreb in the next few days, Reuters reported.
The pact was to be signed on 16 November, but Muslim-Croatian
Federation President Ejup Ganic did not show up at the signing
ceremony (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 November 1998). PB

CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE MEETS IN ZAGREB

Representatives of
the governments of 16 European countries, including 12 prime
ministers, opened a three-day gathering of the Central European
Initiative (CEI) in Zagreb on 19 November. Business leaders are
also attending the meeting. Croatian Economic Minister Nenad
Porges said the previous day that the gathering will demonstrate
"that central and southern European countries make up a specific,
separate European region that is capable of competing with other
European countries in attracting foreign investments." Prime
Minister Zlatko Matesa called the meeting "the most significant
foreign-policy event held in Croatia since it gained
independence" in 1991. Austria and Italy are the only members of
the CEI that also belong to the EU. The other 14 are former
communist countries: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Ukraine, and Belarus. PM

CROATIAN POLL SHOWS PEOPLE WANT CHANGE

A survey published on 19
November showed that two-thirds of Croats believe it is time for
a change and want a new party to run the next government, Reuters
reported. And, when asked which party they supported, President
Franjo Tudjman's ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) only had
the support of 21 percent of respondents, the same percentage as
the opposition Social Democrats, the former Communists. Some 75
percent of those surveyed said some political power should be
transferred from the presidency to the parliament and the
government. The poll was conducted by the Puls agency and was
sponsored by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute.PB

ROMANIAN OPPOSITION THREATENS TO BOYCOTT PARLIAMENT

Ion Iliescu,
chairman of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), says
his party will boycott parliamentary debates unless the ruling
coalition signs a written pledge to respect the opposition's
right to express its views in the legislature. Other opposition
parties have they are ready to join such a boycott, which,
Iliescu said, will trigger early elections. Iliescu made the
statement after the Senate on 19 November voted against debating
a PDSR motion on non-respect for the law-based state. The
parliamentary coalition said that the motion was unconstitutional
because it criticized President Emil Constantinescu, noting that
the basic law stipulates that the parliament can debate only
motions against the government. MS

EXTREMIST ROMANIAN POLITICIAN FINED IN CIVIL LIBEL CASE

The
Supreme Court of Justice on 19 November ordered Greater Romania
Party chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor to pay more than $2,000 in
damages for having slandered the Romanian Writers' Union,
Mediafax reported. Several hundred libel cases have been brought
against Tudor, who enjoys parliamentary immunity. The union sued
Tudor in 1995, and Tudor agreed to renounce his immunity to
appear in court, having already won twice in lower courts. The
decision of the Supreme Court is final, but Tudor says he will
take his case to an international tribunal. MS

BULGARIA RECEIVES SECOND IMF LOAN TRANCHE

An IMF spokeswoman on
19 November confirmed that Bulgaria has met the targets laid down
in a three-year $864 million extended agreement and has been
allowed to make a second $73 million drawing from the loan, an
RFE/RL correspondent in Washington reported. The loan was
approved by the IMF's executive board in September. Meanwhile,
the World Bank has approved a new $80 million loan to help
Bulgaria upgrade its social protection system. MS

BULGARIAN STRIKING MINERS IGNORE MINISTER'S WARNING

Workers on
strike at a lead and zinc mine in southern Bulgaria are ignoring
Finance Minister Muravei Radev's warning that the pit might close
unless they go back to work. About 500 miners at the Zlatograd
branch of the GORUBSO firm have been on strike for nine days to
demand wage increases of up to 200 percent. The Finance Ministry
says the Zlatograd firm has incurred losses of 800 million leva
($446,800) in its core activities between June and September this
year and that its debt stands at 5.7 billion leva ($3.18
million), Reuters reported. A similar protest by miners at
Zlatograd last February did not result in a pay increase for the
strikers. MS

SCHROEDER'S VISIT MARKS NEW ERA IN RUSSO-GERMAN RELATIONS

by Roland Eggleston

This week's visit to Moscow by new German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder has made clear that any personal friendship between the
leaders of the two nations will no longer play so large a role in
German-Russian relations.

Officials in Bonn say the days of the so-called
"Maennerfreundschaft"--or male-bonding--between Russian President
Boris Yeltsin and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl are now
history. One of those officials says that "Kohl based his policy
too much on the person of Boris Yeltsin," adding that "at the
time, he may have been quite right: Yeltsin was the strong man
who could, and did, exercise control. But those days have past."

Political commentator Lutz Steiner says "Schroeder has made
clear that the new Germany is ready to support and help Russia
through its current crisis. But it will be done on a firm
economic basis." Steiner adds that "there will be none of the so-
called 'agreements between old friends,' under which Helmut Kohl
sometimes offered Russia thousands of millions [of marks] in
credit."

Yeltsin was quoted by most German newspapers as having
declared in Moscow that "relations between Germany and Russia
are, and will remain, what they were in recent years." But in
Bonn, officials said that Germany's left coalition of Social
Democrats and Greens wants to fashion a new relationship
independent of any personal friendship between the national
leaders.

The officials said that Schroeder is acutely aware that
Russian politics is in a state of flux. On the one hand, there is
Yeltsin's visible frailty and the fact that his term in office
will soon expire. In the best of circumstances, Yeltsin will
remain in power only until the year 2000. Who his successor will
be remains unclear.

Schroeder is said also to have taken into account that
Russian parliamentary elections are scheduled for next year. They
could bring new leaders to the fore even before the expiration of
Yeltsin's term.

Schroeder's recognition of these realities was expressed not
only in his meetings with Yeltsin and Prime Minister Yevgenii
Primakov. He also expressed his views when he met with former
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Krasnoyarsk Governor, likely
presidential candidate Aleksandr Lebed, as well as communist and
other political leaders. By contrast, Kohl's visits to Moscow
were usually focused only on Yeltsin and those around him.

One theme that pervaded all Schroeder's discussions in
Moscow was that financial assistance to Russia should be provided
internationally and not by Germany independently. Schroeder
emphasized several times that, in his phrase, "Germany's
resources are exhausted."

Most German commentators agree. With more than 10 percent of
the nation's workers unemployed and severe problems in some areas
of the economy, there is widespread agreement that the new
government is being forced to look inward more than in the past.

Schroeder also pointed out to his Russian interlocutors that
other Western countries are also placing restrictions on their
future financial assistance to Russia. A Bonn official said:
"Schroeder made clear to all his discussion partners that Russia
must lay out firm foundations for economic recovery before it can
expect new help from the Western industrial states."

Schroeder's view, as he told Primakov, is that "the work
must be done" in Moscow. But he publicly described the new
Russian economic program as a "good beginning" that ought to
receive a friendly reception from the IMF and World Bank. German
commentators say that Schroeder paid attention to the complaints
he heard from German businessmen at a private meeting. The
businessmen expressed frustration with Russian tax policies,
problems in implementing contracts, and other difficulties.
Schroeder told them that his government is ready to intervene
with Russian authorities in individual cases instead of only
making a blanket approach on behalf of all German businessmen.

Still, Schroeder was said also to have discussed with the
businessmen Lebed's suggestion that Germany develop more business
and political contacts with the Russian regions. Schroeder has
said publicly that he will also recommend to the 17 provincial
governments in Germany that they develop contacts with Russia's
regions.

German commentators are uncertain about what remains of the
bilateral relations forged by Kohl and Yeltsin. One question has
to do with the so-called "European triangle," the name given to
the meeting in March between Yeltsin, Kohl, and French President
Jacques Chirac. Under the skeptical eyes of Washington and
London, the three leaders agreed to develop triangular
cooperation in a number of areas, including a tri-national
university, increased exchange of scientists, and more joint
cultural projects.

None of these programs have been realized, and perhaps now
they never will.
The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Munich.